Cameron insists he condemns all forms of terrorism

10th Aug 2013

PM Cameron meeting young Muslims at Jamia Mosque

By Musa Naqvi in Manchester

Prime Minister David Cameron insists that he condemns all form of terrorism after remaining silent in the aftermath of a series of attacks on mosques in West Midlands last month, The Muslim News exclusively reports. He also said the next meeting of extremism taskforce, the Govt was going to look into is violence and extremism suffered by Muslims communities.

“I condemn these attacks absolutely, buts more important than condemnation is action,” Cameron said belatedly after being challenged during a visit to Jamia Mosque in Manchester as the month of Ramadan drew to a close on Thursday.

“I think we can say that this Government has taken action. The Police have acted very robustly in response to these attacks. Also the Government has changed the PREVENT Strategy to make sure that is was to combat all forms of extremism and violence, including extremism and violence against the Muslim communities.”

“I recognise the seriousness of this problem and that’s one of the reasons my extremism taskforce at its next meeting will be looking at the problem of violence against Muslim communities themselves,” he said after facing criticism by the Muslim community for not being strong enough in his response.

A series of attacks against Muslim targets included three terrorist bombings targeted at different mosques in West Midlands in July. When questioned at the time by The Muslim News Editor, Ahmed J Versi, why the Prime Minister had not condemned the attacks, his spokesperson simply said Cameron was “concerned by the recent events”.

“I did, I’ve condemned all of the bomb attacks against all the mosques and I condemn these attacks utterly,” Cameron insisted when challenged at Jamia Mosque. “I think it’s very important as I’ve said, the Police pursue those responsible, its completely and utterly unacceptable in our country,” he told The Muslim News.

“I would argue that this Government has done more than any previous government to combat Islamophobia in all its forms. We’ve changed the prevent strategy. We’ve empowered the police, we’ve worked with the community to monitor the outbreaks of Islamophobia and I don’t rule out taking more steps, and that why I’ve said my extremism taskforce, the next subject were going to look into is violence and extremism suffered by Muslims communities themselves.”

Minister for Faith & Communities, Baroness Warsi, who was also in attendance, also responded to criticism of the Prime Minister suggesting that there had been “huge concern at the heart of Government about the attacks on the British Muslim community”. She said that she herself had “issued a statement of condemnation immediately after Tipton” and further added that as part of the Government she worked “incredibly closely on this issue of extremism” with the Prime Minister as if acknowledging the lack of a personal response from Cameron himself.

6 Responses to “Cameron insists he condemns all forms of terrorism”

A civilisation is measured not by the rights it grants its majority but the privileges it allows its minorities. Muslim families are as entitled as any other religious group to schools that nurture their children’s faith. Muslim pupils should be educated in Muslim schools because the current system is marginalising them. Teaching Muslim children in a Muslim school would remove the “problem of them being exposed” to values that conflict with Islamic faith. Muslim pupils are disadvantaged and marginalised in the city’s state schools because the cultural heritage of the curriculum is “European and Christian”.

Muslim schools provide an education in accordance with the Muslim beliefs and values, such as providing single-sex schooling after puberty. They are thus a response to the danger of absorption into the dominant culture.

The number of Muslim children is on the increase in Bradford state and church schools. There are lot of schools where Muslim children are in majority. In my opinion, all such schools may be opted out as Muslim Academies for proper education. British history from early periods to present day should be taught in all schools. Islamic history from the early period to present day should be part and parcel of the National Curriculum. I think to be fair the Arabic and Persian contributions to the world in medicine, mathematics and other sciences plus their involvement in world affairs should be taught.

The demand for state funded Muslim schools is in accordance with the law of the land. Muslims are not asking for any favour. I set up the first Muslim school in London in 1981 and now there are 188 Muslim schools and only 12 are state funded. I would like to see each and every Muslim child in a state funded Muslim schools and I hope one day my dream would come true. There is no place for a non-Muslim child or a teacher in a Muslim school. Bilingual Muslim children need bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental period. There are few schools for Hindu and Sikh communities. Now even Black community is thinking of setting up their own state funded schools for their own children with black teachers.

You better teach your children in your own schools and let migrant communities teach their children according to their needs and demands.British Establishment and society should concentrate on the evils of their own society and stop trying to change the way of life of Muslims. Muslim community does not want to integrate with the British society, indulging in incivility, anti-social behaviour, drug and knife culture, binge drinking, teenage pregnancies and abortion.

A Muslim is a citizen of this tiny global village. He/she does not want to become notoriously monolingual Brit. He/she is well versed in standard English, Arabic, Urdu and other community languages so that they do not find themselves cut off from their cultural heritage and are able to enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry.
IA
London School of Islamics Trusthttp://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk

Steve WakefieldAugust 11, 2013

“Muslim community does not want to integrate with the British society”- Pray tell why then a Muslim would chose to come to live in the United Kingdom, an establishment founded in Christian beliefs? The very ideas that you suggest will simply isolate the Muslim community from the wider public which then breads suspicion! Forget ye not that the terrorist attacks have been made in the name of Islam, and the Islamic community has so far failed to isolate and expose these extremists. The “British society” may have some issues but is thankfully devoid of honor killings and barbaric capital punishments. The British society males are not no insecure that they demand that their spouses cover themselves from the eyes of their male counterparts, they have the freedom do dress as they chose. As for a knife culture, may I suggest that you look very closely at recent events – I can’t recall a Christian beheading a member of the public. Open your eyes and your mind.

JasonAugust 11, 2013

Well if you don’t want to intergrate in the British society or even part of it why don’t you go to a Muslim country. It amazes me how most Muslims (not all) condemn Britain but are happy to live here, take the benefits, nhs, etc, etc.

It is easy to say” Go back to where you came from”, but do not forget that British Muslims are actually born and educated here. They are in the unenviable position of trying to combine two different worlds. That is no easy. We do not want to change you lot but we would like to see our children getting balanced Islamic education along with National Curriculum. We would like our children to learn and be well versed in standard English to follow the National Curriculum and go for higher studies and research to serve humanity. At the same time we would like our children to learn and be well versed in Arabic, Urdu and other community languages to keep in touch with their cultural roots and enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry. A Muslim is a citizen of this tiny global village. He/she does not want to become notoriously monolingual Brit. Bilingualism is an asset but British schooling regards it as a problem.

We live in a shrunken world and millions of people are on the move; one of our biggest challenges is how we learn to live in proximity to difference – different skin colours, different beliefs and different way of life. According to a study by COMPAS, Muslims born and educated were given the impression of outsiders. The perception among Muslims is that they are unwelcome in Britain is undermining efforts to help them integrate into wider society. Most of them say that they have experienced race discrimination and religious prejudice. Muslims and Islam is promoted a fundamentalist and separatist by the western elite, which have negative impact on community and social cohesion. The number of racist incidents occurring in London Borough of Redbridge’s schools have reached their highest levels since record begin.

A City or a locality, where Muslims are in majority is a ghetto. There is a tendency for people of similar backgrounds to live together in neighbourhoods. The term”ghettoisation” is inappropriate. The original ghettos in Europe during the middle ages were set up by law to confine the Jewish population to one area of a city. According to a research by an Australian academic that Muslim communities in Britain are being increasingly ghettoized in a trend that set back hopes of assimilation by years. Britain has now eight cities in the top 100 most ghettoized cities. The people from the Pakistani community in Bradford and Oldham and Leicester had trebled during the decade. A report by an academic Dr Alan Carling, that Bradford risks becoming a front line in the global clash between the West and Islam. But Islam and Muslims do not clash with the concepts of pluralism, secularism and globalisation. The native flight from Bradford’s inner-city wards showed clear evidence of an increase in segregation in the city since 1991. Native parents are avoiding sending their children in state schools where Muslims and other minorities are in majority. The dominance of Pakistani Muslims in the city has meant that Bradford has become bi-cultural.

Immigrants are the creators of Britain new wealth, otherwise, inner cities deprived areas could not get new lease of life. The native Brits regard such areas as ghettoes. Integration is not religious and cultural, it is economic and Muslims are well integrated into British society and at the same time they are proud of their Islamic, linguistic and cultural identities, inspite of discrimination they have been facing in all walks of life. According to UN, 80% of British Muslims feel discriminated. They are less burden on social services. Immigrants made up 8.7% of the population, but accounted for 10.2% of all collected income tax

It is often quoted by the Western media that Muslim schools ghettoizes the children, and even lead to their radicalisation if they are not integrated. There is no evidence that faith schools lead to a “ghettoized education system. In British schools, pupils are encouraged to focus too much on their similarities rather than their differences. The integrationist approach merely results in Muslims feeling that their faith, language and culture is not respected.

A report by the Institute for Community Cohesion found that native parents were deserting some schools after finding their children out numbered by pupils from ethnic minorities. Schools in parts of England are becoming increasingly segregated. The study focused on 13 local authorities. Many of the schools and colleges are segregated and this was generally worsening over recent years. This is RACISM because British society is the home of institutional racism. My statement regarding Muslim schools where there is no place for non-Muslim child or a teacher is based on educational process and not on racism. Muslim children need Muslim teachers during their developmental periods. For higher studies and research, Muslim teacher is not a priority.
IA
London School of Islamics Trusthttp://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk

The realityAugust 11, 2013

Just two things to add. Firstly, the PM said “I condemn these attacks absolutely, but more important than condemnation is action”. Very true. Problem is that when Islamic extremists decide to murder people on the streets all that comes from the Muslim community is condemnation. The rest of the country want to see action. Tip-offs to police, public marches condeming it, etc. The impression outside your little communities is that you are scared of saying anything.

Secondly, there’s been one long post so far which goes on about Muslim Schools and The Muslim Community ‘not wanting’ to integrate. You, or your parents or grandparents decided to come to this country to live and in doing so decided to live by our laws. So live by them rather than trying to impose different laws. What would happen if a load of Christians set up a community in the middle of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, etc. and said “We don’t want Sharia Law to apply to us”?

Integration? How many brits integrate when they move abroad to work? The first thing they want to do is open a pub or in the gulf countries where alcohol is banned, they brew their own alcohol.

You all talk about ‘integration’ this ‘integration’ that!! What have you got to offer that is so fantastic and worth integrating for? What cultural goodies do you have to offer? Night in the pub playing darts? Bingo with nelly on Thursdays ? Girls night out? Lads night out? Which usually results in alcohol and drug misuse, further resulting in binge drinking induced semi conscious abuse of whoever you feel like ‘cos you were drunk innit’ with the possibility of a bit of girl/boy interaction ( on public roads these days!!) finish the night off with a curry or kebab and for a real great conclusion to the night puke up in your taxi on the way home? If you can remember where you live…!!! Get home beat the Mrs (I were drunk innit??) or is that a bit too upmarket for the interaction available to these girls in Burka’s? And you really wonder why integration has failed? Or why these young ladies possibly have different aspirations to what the alternative lifestyle has to offer? No doubt sooner or later and as time goes on these young ladies may also fall victim to this alternate lifestyle offered in the name of modernity and freedom, I for one hope it’s not in my lifetime as it would truly be indicative of the moral decline in this country finally hitting rock bottom.

Abuse and neglect happen in all societies. Christians annihilated the Aztecs, Christians murdered millions of Native Americans, Christians performed a genocide on Australian Aborigines, Catholics slaughtered the French Huguenots. Need I go on?

These girls will be the lawyers, doctors, dentist, journalists and leaders of tomorrow…..given the chance in a society that already oppresses them by belittling their religion, their culture, their languages , the way they dress, the choices they make in life, just because they choose not to follow their compatriots who choose a different way of life and have alternative ‘lifestyles’ of media encouraged early years sexualisation of everything they do, see or hear in order to be a ‘part’ of a ‘free society’ which openly encourages the debauchery one can see any weekend in almost any town or city these days. Is this the kind of ‘freedom’ you would like to see them participate in? Wandering from man to man? To become part of the millions of unmarried 30-40 year old ‘single’ woman awash in our society because the ‘Men’ of the country have no desire to marry the woman they sleep around with? Is That the kind of ‘integration’ you are referring to? The society whereby woman are used and abused and discarded and then told they are living the dream and in freedom? And are left alone to struggle with kids from unknown and various biological ‘fathers’ who have no feelings of responsibility towards their ‘woman and children’ but abandon them to the fate of this wonderful modern free society we all live in, with no sense of direction, no moral guidance, and an uncaring society towards single mothers with multiple abandoned children relying on the state to support them instead of their fathers or family? That the kind of integration you talk about? Then I’m glad they choose not to integrate because they would be mad to join your utopia,don’t you think?
IA

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